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(No Model.)

H. G. WARREN.

FLYING TARGET. y No. 429,491. Patented June 3, 1890.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY C. WARREN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

FLYING TARGET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 429,491, dated June 3, 1890.

Application filed February 20, 1890. Serial No. 341,199. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY O. WARREN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Boston, (Charlestown,) in the county of Suifolk and State of Massachu setts,haveinventednew and useful Improvements in Flying Targets, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in flying targets of the kind adapted to be thrown in the air by a suitable trap and used in gun clubs for shooting practice. It is very essential that such flying targets should be easily broken when hit by the shot, but of sufficient strength to enable them to be handled, shipped, and thrown from the trap without breaking, and it is also desirable that they should be as thin and light as possible with requisite strength to enable them to be handled, transported, and thrown without breaking, and for such purposes I make my improved flying target as follows, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 represents a plan view of one of said targets, and Fig. 2 represents a crosssection of the same. 1

Similar letters refer to similar parts wherever they occur on the difierent parts of the drawings.

A target A is made saucer-shaped, as usual, with an annular lip or projection a at its base and a series of segmental steps or corrugations a a7 a" between the circular base projection a and sunken top a, as shown. Combined with the said segmental steps or corrugations a, I make on the outside of the target, in one piece with it, a number of transverse or radialribs a 0. which extend across the top surface, unite at the center thereof, and serve as means for increasing the strength of the target and preventing its accidental breakage when handled, transported, or thrown, and said ribs also serve for the purpose of preventing the shots from glancing off when the target is hit, and thus causing it to break easily when the shots come in contact with it. By means of such ribs a I am enabled to make the target considerably lighter and thinner for the purposes above mentioned.

In molding the target I embed and wholly cover and conceal within the annular base projection a fine circular metallic wire b, the ends of which preferably overlap each other, as shown at b in Fig. 1, so as to prevent such ends from pulling apart where they join. The object of said wire introduced in the substance of the target is to prevent it from being easily broken or destroyed by outward or inward pressure or strain in handling, packing, or shipping it, or while it is being thrown suddenly from the trap or by the centrifugal force before the gunner has time to take aim or fire.

In molding targets of this kind a great percentage thereof often becomes cracked, and they are thereby rendered worthless; but this I avoid by the introduction of the fine-wire ring I b, which serves to hold such cracked portions together, thus saving a great deal of waste of targets in the manufacture of the same, by which-they can be made considerably cheaper.

In practice I prefer to make my improved flying targets from a composition consisting of, by weight, about twenty-five per cent. of liquid coal-tar, seventy per cent. of plasterof-paris, and five per cent. of wood pulp or fiber; but I desire to state that I do not wish to confine myself to this precise compound, as the improved targets may be made of other suitable or equivalent ingredients without departing from the essence of my invention.

What I wish to secure by Letters Patent, and claim, is-

l. A molded flying target formed with an annular base projection a, the several sets of steps a, successively rising from the base projection to the top portion of the target, and the series of radial ribs a arranged between the sets of successive steps, substantially as described.

2. A molded flying target formed with the annular base projection a, the several sets of successive segmental steps a, and the series of radial ribs between the sets of segmental steps, extending across the top surface of the target and united at the center thereof, substantially as described.

3. A molded fiyin g target having an annu- In testimony whereof I have signed my 10 name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 18th day of February, A. D. 1890.

HENRY C. WARREN.

Witnesses:

ALBAN ANDREN, M. J. JACKSON. 

